The Monday After  Canton man set the pace 50 years ago

Gary Brown

Tuesday

May 31, 2011 at 12:01 AMMay 31, 2011 at 6:35 AM

His “electric heart,” as a newspaper headline called it, probably gave George F. Putnam three years of life. Putnam underwent surgery to implant his pacemaker — the first such medical procedure in Canton — on Feb. 14, 1961. He died at age 73 of a heart attack on Feb. 19, 1964.

His “electric heart,” as a newspaper headline called it, probably gave George F. Putnam three years of life.

Putnam underwent surgery to implant his pacemaker — the first such medical procedure in Canton — on Feb. 14, 1961. He died at age 73 of a heart attack on Feb. 19, 1964.

Considering that his pulse was 30 before the operation and 56 after, it is easy to assume his life was prolonged by the presence of the device.

“Mr. Putnam had a history of heart trouble and in 1961 became one of the first in the country to have an electronic ‘pacemaker’ implanted in his chest to stabilize and strengthen his heartbeat,” said his obituary.

With that operation 50 years ago, Putnam joined a small group of people who had their lives “made more secure through another giant stride in medical science,” said The Repository.

SELECT GROUP

Indeed, there were only about 100 individuals who had received pacemakers at the time the 70-year-old Putnam underwent his surgery at Aultman Hospital. Most of those were external versions. Putnam was only the 14th recorded patient in the country to become a member of what The Repository called the “implanted electric heart club.”

“The ‘electric heart’ is a recent development. It was conceived in 1952, but the first external battery device proved impractical and it was not until 1957 that a practical instrument was designed. Even then, the patient had to carry his battery around with him, explained The Repository, not long after Putnam’s surgery.

The electronic device, implanted at Putnam’s waistline, carried an electrical impulse through a pair of electrode wires “plugged into” his heart.

“The fibers which normally conduct the impulses of the heart’s natural pacesetter from auricle to ventricle no longer functioned properly,” The Repository explained. “The pace-setting impulse was blocked from reaching its normal destination and only an outside, or artificial pacesetter, could replace the built-in beat of the heart.”

WAITED FOR SURGERY

His need for that pace-setting device was not immediately filled, of course. The technology was new. The supply had not reached demand. “Since the electronic device is hardly an item to be stocked on pharmaceutical shelves, Mr. Putnam waited two weeks for its delivery,” the newspaper noted.

“The only decision I had to make,” Putnam told the newspaper, “was whether I thought my body was healthy enough to make the operation worthwhile.”

The Repository explained the operation in its article.

“The surgeon made a chest incision and ‘plugged’ the two-pronged electrode directly into the patient’s heart muscle,” said Repository writer Helen Carringer. “The electrode patch was sutured in place and the lead wires then threaded through fatty tissue to a spot at the upper part of the left abdomen where the battery is implanted.”

The pacemaker was designed to transmit impulses for five years. If it didn’t, well, a spare electrode patch was installed, with lead wires leading to a tiny incision near the right abdomen.

“If any trouble should develop,” said Putnam’s surgeon, who wasn’t identified, “we could temporarily plug in and provide Mr. Putnam with power until we could correct the defect in the original device.”

The internal pacemaker — about the size of a pack of cigarettes — was less of a nuisance than the external version, Carringer explained. “The implantation reduces risk of infection, snagged wires and short circuits.”

The device contained 10 small mercury batteries. When they wore out, they increased the pulse rate as a warning. Replacement then could be made with an operation using only local anesthetic, the writer explained.

CHANGED HIS LIFE

Putnam, who was married to longtime Repository society and religion editor Gretchen Putnam, knew he was part of making history when he agreed to have a pacemaker implanted.

“The story,” he insisted, “is about the pacemaker itself and all the wonderful doctors and nurses who made its installation possible.”

But, beyond the rocket-science surrounding the pacemaker — the tiny batteries used in the device were like those used in rockets — there was a personal side to Putnam’s story.

The pacemaker changed his life — lengthened it, actually. And it shortened the long list of medications Putnam had been taking to remain alive with his heart problems.

“Mr. Putnam isn’t planning to go out and jump rope or climb a mountain,” wrote Carringer. “The pacemaker never was intended to give him that kind of physical endurance. It has made a life of moderation possible and that in itself is a great gift, after wondering whether he could walk from one room to another without collapsing.”

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